A hacker claims to have the sensitive source code for the Xbox Series X. She has partially released it already. Now she wants to sell the code for 100 million dollars. If she doesn’t get the money, she already has a plan.
What’s going on? It seems that chip manufacturer AMD has been going through tough times in recent months. The graphics card for the Xbox Series X is supposed to be developed by AMD, and that’s where there allegedly was a data leak.
In a blog post on the AMD website, they write that they were contacted in December 2019 by a person claiming to have data on current and future graphics products. Some of the data has even been shared online, but it is no longer available there.
AMD is aware that the person possesses additional data that has not been publicly shared yet. The blog post states:
We believe that the stolen graphics IP [IP: Intellectual Property] is not core to our competitiveness or the security of our graphics products. We are not aware of the perpetrator possessing any other AMD IP.
We are working closely with law enforcement and other experts as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
Source: Amd.com
There are also statements from the hacker
What does the hacker say? The hacker contacted the platform TorrentFreak with a few statements. She reveals that she also possesses data from the yet-to-be-released Xbox Series X. She says:
- In November 2019, she found source codes for AMD Navi graphics cards on a hacked computer
- Through a few exploits, they gained access to the unprotected computer to steal the code
- “The data wasn’t even properly protected or encrypted, which is sad,” says the anonymous hacker
- The code for “Arden,” which is suspected to be the graphics card for the Xbox Series X, is also part of the stolen data – alongside Navi 10 and Navi 21
What is her plan with the data? She wants 100 million dollars as the purchase price for the stolen data. If she does not receive the money, she plans to “leak everything.” However, how she arrives at this high value for the data is unknown.
AMD states that the data is not of great importance for competitiveness or security. Nonetheless, they are pursuing the story. Part of the data was reportedly uploaded to GitHub and had to be removed from there at AMD’s request, according to TorrentFreak.
It is currently unknown whether the incident will have any impact on the release of the new Xbox console. Just recently, Microsoft reported good news about the Xbox Series X.
